Kitchen Queries

Welcome to Kitchen Queries, where the nigella.com team will answer your cooking or food related questions. We’d love you to submit some of your recipe problems, dilemmas or queries for us to get our teeth into!

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What are chicken escalopes?

Is a chicken escalope breast or the tenderloin? I am going to make your cookalong dish but want to make sure I get the correct cut. Kt- australia.

Posted by gourmetlover. Answered on 3rd Mar 2011 at 12.00

From the nigella team:

An escalope of any type of meat is a very thin piece of meat. As escalopes are cooked quickly (generally in a frying pan, sometimes coated in breadcrumbs) the meat is frequently from a more tender part of the animal. It may also be "beaten out" with a meat mallet or rolling pin, to thin the escalope further and to make the meat more tender.

For chicken and turkey escalopes are usually cut from the main part of the breast. The tenderloin you mention is a small piece of breast attached to the underside of the main piece of breast (also known as chicken tenders, mini fillets or faux-filet) can be used though they are fairly small so you are likely to need two or three per adult portion. If you want to make escalopes them yourself from tenderloins then firstly remove the white connecting tendon from the tenderloins using a sharp knife or a pair of kitchen scissors. Put the tenderloins on a board and cover with clingfilm (plastic wrap) or baking parchment (parchment paper) then bash with a meat mallet or rolling pin until the tenderloins are around 2mm (1/16th inch) thick.